Romney lies when he says Obama has apologized for America

Eugene Robinson is now the umpteenth political pundit to PUT THE LIE to Mitt Romney’s slander of Barack Obama for allegedly bad-mouthing his own country:

Obama “went around the Middle East and apologized for America,” Romney said in March. “You know, instead of apologizing for America he should have stood up and said that as the president of the United States we all take credit for the greatness of this country.” That’s two lies for the price of one. Obama did not, in fact, go around the Middle East, or anywhere else, apologizing for America. And he did, on many occasions, trumpet American greatness and exceptionalism.

Romney offers few specifics, but the conservative Heritage Foundation published a list of “Barack Obama’s Top 10 Apologies” — not one of which is an apology at all.

Romney does single out the following Obama statement from a 2009 interview: “I believe in American exceptionalism, just as I suspect that the Brits believe in British exceptionalism and the Greeks believe in Greek exceptionalism.” Romney says this acknowledgement — that others might have as much national pride as we do — means Obama doesn’t really believe in American exceptionalism at all.

But in the same interview, Obama went on to say he was “enormously proud of my country and its role and history in the world,” and to tout U.S. economic and military might as well as the nation’s “exceptional” democratic values. So he should be accused of chest-thumping, not groveling.

“The Associated Press ripped claims from the Obama White House on spending a couple of days later. So did Jake Tapper of ABC News. But it’s the complete disregard for the Post’s own analysis that is so stunning in the decision to publish Robinson’s column. Robinson does mention one fact checker, but it’s not Kessler, who dismantled MarketWatch’s analysis; it’s from PolitiFact, which has been roundly criticized for its “Mostly True” score on this point. It’s as if Kessler doesn’t exist at all at the Washington Post, which Kessler himself must find either amusing or somewhat disturbing this morning.”

“The larger question remains, though: do Washington Post editors read their own newspaper? If so, how did they approve a column with claims which their own analyst had already proven false?”

I didn’t deny that Romney may be twisting the words of President Obama, Pat. I simply pointed out that you frequently twist words and stories to suit your agenda- a great example of the pot calling the kettle black.